I was really surprised (and glad) to see Karma To Burn scheduled for a gig at Graspop last year. The (mainly) instrumental stoner rock trio hailing from West Virginia had buried the hatchet and came over to Europe to smoke the peace pipe by scattering their mind-blowing rifforamas over the crowd. It was welcomed by many, since their seven year’s absence gave the band a kind of cult status.

I got to know the band in the post-Kyuss era, a time when I was searching for bands that could fill up the gap of Kyuss’ disbandment. Hence I purchased the Karma To Burn debut in 1997 and I was mainly impressed by their Joy Division cover ’24 Hours’. But the intentions of the band were totally different. That became obvious when ‘Wild Wonderful Purgatory’ and ‘Almost Heathen’ appeared to be completely instrumental. Next they split up, torn apart by booze and drugs (we have to admit that the music of Karma To Burn invites to smoke a joint). Bassist Rich Mullins fell from Scylla into Charybdis, but in the end he overcame his drug addiction. Nowadays we use to know him from his involvement in Year Long Disaster, together with Daniel Davies, the son of the guitarist of The Kinks. Consequently Daniel can be heard as guest singer on ‘Waiting On The Western World’.

Only ultimate strong riff scan bear an instrumental album. Karma To Burn succeeds in that, but it isn’t a bad move to put a song with vocals halfway. As latest track we can also find a track with vocals, with no less a person than John Garcia. Right after the split of Kyuss, Garcia worked together with Karma To Burn and rumours spoke about him being the permanent new vocalist of the band. But they obstinately hold on to their instrumental approach. Now that everybody seems to have peace with that, they seem to doubt this point of view again, but well, ‘Appalachian Incantation’ is a captivating comeback on disc of an exceptional band.